Chris Paisley maintains form to lead Maybank Championship in Malaysia

By Ali Stafford

Thursday 1 February 2018 13:42, UK

Chris Paisley continued his fast start to 2018 by grabbing the early advantage at the weather-affected Maybank Championship.

The SA Open champion, who has registered top-five finishes in each of his three starts this year, posted a bogey-free 65 at Saujana G&GC to hold a one-shot lead over David Horsey and Mike Lorenzo-Vera.

Horsey birdied his final hole to close an opening-round 66, with Lorenzo-Vera also on six under with two holes remaining when play was suspended due to bad light at 7.30pm local time (11.30am GMT).

Thunderstorms saw play halted for nearly two hours during the afternoon session, with 40 players unable to complete their opening rounds and needing to return on Friday morning.

"It was great and nice to keep the form going," Paisley said. "I just played really solid, hit it well off the tee so gave myself a lot of wedges and short irons into the greens and gave myself a lot of birdie chances.

"It couldn't have gone better. Scoring wise it is quite easy but to keep your focus is quite difficult with how tiring the heat is, but it is good fun."

Beginning on the back nine, Paisley birdied four of his opening nine holes and added back-to-back gains from the second before rolling in a six-footer at the eighth to grab the outright lead.

Andrew "Beef" Johnston held a share of the lead after five birdies and an eagle in an eight-hole stretch around the turn, only to slip into the group on five under with a final-hole bogey.

Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn is in the group on four under and top seed Henrik Stenson opened with a level-par 72, while last week's winner Haotong Li is nine strokes off the pace after an opening-round 74.

Watch the Maybank Championship throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage continues on Friday from 7.30am on Sky Sports Golf and Sky Sports Main Event.